Now that I.S.I.S. has been sent packing from Mosul, some pundits would have us believe that the war against I.S.I.S. is over. Granted, Mosul was of great strategic significance to I.S.I.S., but not every terrorist thug involved with them was holed up there. They're still in great abundance in Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Libya, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and even right here in the good old U.S.A.
But, some journalists point out that their leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is dead; Russia claims they nailed him in an air strike and I.S.I.S. has verified he is indeed dead. Well, it's not the first time his death has been widely reported, and he managed to survive every one of those reports. Until our intelligence people can verify it, we have to presume his death is fictional. Besides, if he is in fact dead, that is most unlikely to affect the organization any more than the death of Osama Bin Laden did. I.S.I.S. is more than a bunch of camel jockeys; they have a sophisticated and deeply organized structure with tentacles reaching all over the world. They are not now going to dry up and blow away.
Indeed, quite the contrary is likely to happen. After the death of Bin Laden, terrorist activity around the globe increased dramatically. With the Mosul defeat and possible death of al-Baghdadi, things are likely to heat up even more.
One thing is certain: Trump made great strides in just six months... far, far more success than Obama ever inclined to pursue or capable of achieving. Obama could have eliminated them before they metastasized, but he didn't and it's going to take us several more years to make any really significant headway in getting rid of them... an effort that is going to require every country in the world to participate in.
That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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